The Load and A Land Imagined triumph at Pingyao
- The Man Who Surprised Everyone won the People’s Choice Award in the Crouching Tigers Competition, while Girl and Volcano scooped the same prize in the Best of Fest and Hidden Dragon sections
The second edition of the Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival (11-20 October) handed out its awards on 17 October. The ceremony was held in the Platform open theatre, named after Jia Zhangke’s film of the same name, during the Pingyao Night, three days before the festival drew to a close. This year, founder Jia Zhangke and artistic director Marco Müller hosted a new main competition for the first time at the Shanxi province-based festival. The Crouching Tiger Competition welcomed eight films, including the world premiere of Ivo Ferreira’s Hotel Império [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivo M Ferreira
film profile], Romain Laguna’s Meteorites [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Mohamed Ben Attia’s French-Belgian-Tunisian co-production Dear Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mohamed Ben Attia
film profile], among others.
Indian director Ivan Ayr’s Soni, which premiered earlier this year in the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti competition, took home the Roberto Rossellini Award for Best Film, provided by the Roberto Rossellini Foundation, in the Crouching Tiger Competition. This $20,000 prize is inspired by maestro Rossellini’s humanitarian spirit, as it rewards new filmmakers and champions the development of arthouse cinema.
The jury of the Crouching Tiger Competition, made up of Chinese professor Dai Jinhua, Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi (Monte [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Georgian director Ana Urushadze (Scary Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ana Urushadze
film profile]), Chinese filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai and Taiwanese-US actor Mason C Lee, gave the Best Director Award to Ognjen Glavonić for his third feature, The Load [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ognjen Glavonić
film profile]. Glavonić thus received $10,000 from the Roberto Rossellini Foundation for use in the development of his next film. Also, a Jury Award went to the most recent Locarno Film Festival Golden Leopard winner, A Land Imagined [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Singaporean helmer Yeo Siew Hua, co-produced by France and the Netherlands.
The next most important prizes were the Fei Mu Awards: Bai Xue’s The Crossing and Huo Meng’s Crossing the Border were the winners of this competition for Chinese-language films. Premiered earlier this year at the Toronto Film Festival, The Crossing took home Best Film and Best Actress (for young Huang Yao), while Crossing the Border won Best Director and Best Actor (for Yang Taiyi’s non-professional performance).
The Chinese audience also cast their votes at the gathering. The People’s Choice Award in the Crouching Tiger Competition went to Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov’s Russian-French-Estonian co-production The Man Who Surprised Everyone [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], while Roman Bondarchuk’s Volcano [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roman Bondarchuk
film profile] came out on top in the non-competitive Hidden Dragon section, and Lukas Dhont’s Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] received the same award within the Best of Fest category. In addition, the Chinese films Life of Zhang Chu and Red Flowers and Green Leaves scooped the People’s Choice Award in the New Generation China and Gala sections. Finally, Asian filmmakers Sonathar Gyal, Huang Zi, Yang Pingdao, Yesir and Chang Biao took home several Work-in-Progress Lab Awards.
Here is the complete list of winners:
Roberto Rossellini Awards (Crouching Tigers Competition)
Best Film
Soni – Ivan Ayr (India)
Best Director
Ognjen Glavonić – The Load [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ognjen Glavonić
film profile] (Serbia/France/Croatia/Iran/Qatar)
Jury Award
A Land Imagined [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore/France/Netherlands)
Fei Mu Awards (for Chinese-language films)
Best Film
The Crossing – Bai Xue (China)
Best Director
Huo Meng – Crossing the Border (China)
Best Actress
Huang Yao – The Crossing
Best Actor
Yang Taiyi – Crossing the Border
Youth Jury Award
Crossing the Border – Huo Meng
People’s Choice Awards
Best Film in the Crouching Tigers Competition
The Man Who Surprised Everyone [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Natasha Merkulova, Aleksey Chupov (Russia/France/Estonia)
Best Film in New Generation China
Life of Zhang Chu – Lv Yulai (China)
Best Film in Gala
Red Flowers and Green Leaves – Liu Miaomiao (China)
Best Film in Best of Fest
Girl [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] – Lukas Dhont (Belgium/Netherlands)
Best Film in Hidden Dragons
Volcano [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roman Bondarchuk
film profile] – Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine/Germany)
Work-in-Progress Lab Awards
Momo-WIP Best Film
Lhamo and Skalbe – Sonthar Gyal
Momo-WIP Best Director
Huang Zi – All About ING
Wings Project Award
A Yang Pingdao Film – Yang Pingdao
Wishart Award
Koali & Rice – Yesir
See You Again Pingyao Award
Unknown Time – Chang Biao
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